1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to communication systems. More particularly, the invention relates to transmission of control information within communication systems.
2. Description of the Background Art
Many simple communication networks lack control information. Control information comprises routing information, network health information, node outage information, status of remote network nodes, etc. As networks have become more complex, carry more data, and are relied upon more for communication, the ability to transfer control information between nodes becomes more important.
Some networks or network portions use a communication path or line that is entirely separate from the data link to transmit control information between network nodes. Using separate control paths adds complexity and expense to networks.
In other networks or network portions, however, control information is transmitted between nodes over data links, eliminating the need for distinct control paths. Some of these networks assign a portion of the data bandwidth to carrying the control signals, which therefore modifies the transmitted data. Other networks set aside a distinct bandwidth to transmit the control signals over the data link. Because that bandwidth cannot be used to transmit other data, this method reduces overall data handling capacity for the network.
It would thus be desirable to provide a method for transmitting control information over a data link without reducing or affecting data handling capacity.
The present invention relates to a method and associated apparatus for embedding of control information in a data signal to be transmitted over a data link by a network node. The method comprises generation of control information to be transmitted over a data link by a network node. A signal is generated by combining the control information with the data. In a first embodiment, the data includes individual temporal packets of information such that an interpacket gap is temporally defined between said temporal packets of information. Control information is transmitted within the interpacket gap. In a second embodiment, the data is transmitted within a prescribed frequency bandwidth such that a frequency gap is defined within the frequency bandwidth. Control information is transmitted within the frequency gap. The data handling capacity of the control information is maintained in both the first and the second embodiments.